The Life of Julia… who really wins?

President Obama’s campaign has put together “The Life of Julia“, following a woman from cradle to grave to show how she benefits from the enlightened benificence of President Barack Obama.

The reality, though, is rather different. Let’s look now at “The Life of Julia”:

3 Years Old

Under President Obama: Julia is enrolled in a Head Start program to help her get ready for school. Because of steps President Obama has taken to improve programs like this one, Julia joins thousands of students across the country who will start kindergarten ready to learn and succeed.

Who really wins: The Federal bureaucracy. Head Start is a high-profile program that allows the employment of many bureaucrats to manage the funds, as well as extending the reach of Washington into the pre-school classroom.

The higher education establishment. Head Start requires teachers to have at least an associates degree, while half must have a bachelors.

Who really loses: Julia, possibly. Head Start produces few lasting benefits and, in some cases, can harm students’ future prospects.

The Taxpayers. They have to pay a lot for few lasting benefits and possible harms.

17 Years Old

Under President Obama: Julia takes the SAT and is on track to start her college applications. Her high school is part of the Race to the Top program, implemented by President Obama. Their new college- and career-ready standards mean Julia can take the classes she needs to do well.

Who really wins: The Federal bureaucracy. Like Head Start, Race to the Top is another chance for the Federal bureaucracy to grow and control more taxpayer dollars, while further tightening the Federal hold on local schools.

Who really loses: Julia. While her school vies for Race to the Top dollars by complying with cookie-cutter reform proposals, it ignores on-the-ground barriers to learning. Her classes are less effective, and while her transcript looks good on paper, she arrives in college academically less prepared.

22 Years Old

Under President Obama: During college, Julia undergoes surgery. It is thankfully covered by her insurance due to a provision in health care reform that lets her stay on her parents’ coverage until she turns 26.

Who really wins: Obama and the Democrats. When college graduates are having a historically difficult time finding jobs and the rest of the PPACA further tightens the link between full-time employment and insurance, this was bound to be a pain point for young voters.

The higher education establishment. This allows the higher education establishment to entice vulnerable young students into spending longer in college, thus forking over more money to them.

Who really loses: Julia. This is yet another incentive to stay in college longer, racking up student loans that will burden her throughout her life.

Julia’s parents. Someone’s gotta pay for this, right?

23 Years Old

Under President Obama: Because of steps like the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, Julia is one of millions of women across the country who knows she’ll always be able to stand up for her right to equal pay. She starts her career as a web designer.

Who really wins: Lawyers. More lawsuits = more money. Any questions?

Who really loses: Julia. In a time of historically-unprecedented unemployment for young workers, increasing the odds of a discrimination lawsuit further encourages employers to pick older workers with proven track records. Odds are, Julia doesn’t get a job as a web designer. She starts her career as a web designer waiting tables at minimum wage plus tips while doing freelance jobs to build her reputation.

25 Years Old

Under President Obama: After graduation, Julia’s federal student loans are more manageable since President Obama capped income-based federal student loan payments and kept interest rates low. She makes her payments on time every month, keeping her on track to repay her student loans.

Who really wins: The student loan industry. Already protected by the fact that student loans cannot be discharged into bankruptcy, they’re now able to make student loans look like a better deal with “low monthly payments” and a capped interest rate.

The higher education establishment. Since student loans are such a good deal, why not get students to spend a little more on their educations? Right?

Who really loses: Julia. Enticed by easy student loan money, Julia is now burdened with student loan debt. Her career as a web designer has yet to take off, but the fact that she’s working makes it difficult to get a deferment or forbearance.

In the long run, the capped monthly payment causes Julia to accept a longer loan term, extending the time she’s burdened with the loans and increasing their total cost.

27 & 31 Years Old

Under President Obama (27): For the past four years, Julia has worked full-time as a web designer. Thanks to Obamacare, her health insurance is required to cover birth control and preventive care, letting Julia focus on her work rather than worry about her health.

Under President Obama (31): Julia decides to have a child. Throughout her pregnancy, she benefits from maternal checkups, prenatal care, and free screenings under health care reform.

Who really wins: The health care industry. Because Julia’s discretionary health care consumption is covered by “insurance”, she has no incentive to curb it, thereby increasing demand for health care.

Obama and the Democrats. With their impulses towards social engineering, wresting control of Julia’s health care decisions out of the hands of her employer is a huge victory. Make no mistake, Julia’s health care decisions are now in the hands of the Federal bureaucracy.

Who really loses: Julia. Because insurers aren’t able to accurately price for risk, everyone ends up paying significantly more for insurance, including Julia.

Moreover, Julia’s health care is now controlled by an unaccountable Washington bureaucracy issuing orders to her health insurer. She has less power, and less choice, than before.

Finally, since employers have less control over the cost of health insurance under Obamacare, the odds of her having gotten that full-time web design job at 23 are further diminished.

37 Years Old

Under President Obama: Julia’s son Zachary starts kindergarten. The public schools in their neighborhood have better facilities and great teachers because of President Obama’s investments in education and programs like Race to the Top.

Who really wins: The Federal bureaucracy. It was true when Julia was in school, and it still is. Race to the Top and other Washington “investments” in education are primarily to reinforce the control of the Federal bureaucracy over local schools.

Who really loses: Julia and Zachary. The public schools in Julia’s neighborhood are now tightly controlled by Washington. Local problems are ignored entirely, as are politically incorrect problems like the achievement decline among boys. As a result, Zachary receives a substandard education compared to his female peers, making him less likely to learn the skills he needs to make it in life.

42 Years Old

Under President Obama: Julia starts her own web business. She qualifies for a Small Business Administration loan, giving her the money she needs to invest in her business. President Obama’s tax cuts for small business like Julia’s help her to get started. She’s able to hire employees, creating new jobs in her town and helping to grow the local economy.

Who really wins: No one.

Who really loses: Julia. While able to start a one-person web shop in an apparent win, her progress is impeded when it’s time to expand. When faced with bringing on employees in the Obama regulatory climate, she decides it’s too difficult and passes on the opportunity. She’s never able to make it big.

65 Years Old

Under President Obama: Julia enrolls in Medicare, helping her to afford preventive care and the prescription drugs she needs.

Who really wins: Obama and the Democrats. Their outright false claim that Medicare will still be solvent by the time Julia reaches 65 only exists to keep them in power.

Who really loses: Julia. Having counted on Medicare to be there through much of her career, Julia failed to save enough for her medical care in retirement. Now that Medicare is insolvent, she has to keep working. She could have put the money taxed from her for Medicare towards savings, but was denied the opportunity.

67 Years Old

Under President Obama: Julia retires. After years of contributing to Social Security, she receives monthly benefits that help her retire comfortably without worrying that she’ll run out of savings. This allows her to volunteer at a community garden.

Who really wins: Obama and the Democrats. Their outright false claim that Social Security will still be solvent by the time Julia reaches 67 only exists to keep them in power.

Additionally, Social Security today doesn’t provide enough to retire comfortably on in many areas of the country. So claiming otherwise is yet another lie to keep Obama and the Democrats in power.

Who really loses: Julia. Having counted on Social Security to be part of her retirement strategy through much of her career, Julia failed to save enough. Now that Social Security is insolvent, she has to keep working. She could have put the money taxed from her for Social Security towards savings, but was denied the opportunity.

The Community Garden. Because Julia is still working, they’re short a volunteer.

Conclusion

Who really wins: Obama and the Democrats, the Federal bureaucracy, the higher education establishment, Lawyers, the student loan industry, the health care industry, and unions.

Who really loses: The taxpayers, Julia’s parents, Julia’s son Zachary, and Julia, every single time.

Now, young voters, ask yourselves… do you really want “The Life of Julia”?

Like this:

LikeLoading...

Doctor T

Some additions to the timeline:

Within 24 hours of birth, Julia receives a vaccine against hepatitis B (a disease transmitted by contaminated needles and sexual intercourse) as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and mandated by most states. This vaccination is worse than worthless because infants cannot make antibodies until they are at least two months old. (That’s why no other vaccines are given to newborns.) It’s quite likely that this vaccination will increase the risk of acquiring hepatitis B later in life because vaccine antigens present while the immune system is developing are treated as “self” and will never trigger an immune response.

Ages 6-17: Julia goes to public schools that perform frequent standardized testing in order to qualify for funds from the federal and state governments. The huge list of covered topics on these standardized tests dominate curriculum development despite the fact that many of those topics are absurd or age-inappropriate. Teachers all teach to these tests to help the school get more funding and to qualify for pay increases. Julia’s public school education sucks, but it gives her the piece of paper that lets her go on to college.

Ages 18-22: Julia attends a college that is incredibly expensive because demand is high and the federal government subsidizes student loans. The curriculum has been dumbed-down to reduce failure rates. (Despite the dumbing-down, half of college students fail to get a bachelors degree.) Julia acquires another piece of paper while acquiring no useful skills and a little knowledge of Java programming. She did acquire $120,000 in debt.

Age 23: When she starts her job as a web designer, the combination of a glut of recent grads plus her lack of experience result in low pay. Social Security and Medicare deductions now total 20% of gross pay. Despite sharing a small apartment and taking a (government subsidized) bus to work, she can barely make ends meet. Even with reduced interest rates, the student loan payments suck down a big chunk of her take-home pay. She realizes that if she had dropped out of high school at 16 and gotten a job as a waitress, she would be much better off financially.